Air Force Promotes Highest Ranking Gay Officer

Air Force Major General Patricia Rose was promoted in a small ceremony on May 31.

BY Michelle Garcia

June 09 2013 2:06 PM ET

Air Force Major General Patricia Rose

Air Force Major General Patricia Rose is now the highest ranking openly gay officer in the military after she was promoted May 31.

According to OutServe-SLDN, Rose's wife, retired Naval Officer Julie Roth, pinned her wife's second star at a small ceremony led by Rose's direct supervisor, General Janet Wolfenbarger, the Air Force's first female four-star general.

Rose, a reservist, is the Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. She has served in both aircraft maintenance and transportation in seven different commands as a logistician. Her reserve assignments include command of the 36th Aerial Port Squadron at McChord AFB, Washington.

Her civilian work is as a public relations and marketing director for a hospital.

Rose and Roth were legally married in Washington last year.

“Our congratulations go out to Major General Rose and Lieutenant Roth, both for General Rose’s promotion and for their integrity in being honest and open about who they are,” said Allyson Robinson, Army veteran and OutServe-SLDN Executive Director. “These are our core values, and they set an example for our troops that it is our courage and our diversity that make us strong.”